CALDWELL, N.J. -- Freshman designated player
Maddie Matkosky (Horseheads, N.Y.) and sophomore left fielder
McKenzie Nazionale (Ontario, Calif.) both went 2-3 with two RBIs to lift Caldwell softball to a 6-1 game 1 victory over the Georgian Court Lions (17-23, 12-10 CACC) at Caldwell Athletics Field. GCU won game 2 12-9. Caldwell will now enter the CACC tournament playoffs as the #5 seed and will travel to #4 Jefferson in the quarterfinals on Saturday at noon.
In game one, GCU struck first in the 2nd inning with a RBI double. Caldwell then answered back with three runs on two doubles in the bottom of the 2nd. Matkosky had a two-run double and Nazionale hit a RBI double.
Nazionale came through again in the 4th when she mashed an RBI single. Freshman third baseman
Lindsay Oller (South Plainfield, N.J.) put the Cougars up 5-1 with an RBI single of her own in the 5th.
Senior second baseman
Grace Vondracek (Odessa, N.Y.) capped off CU's scoring when she scored on a throwing error by the Lions shortstop in the 6th.
In game two, the Lions took the early lead again with a RBI single in the 1st inning. CU (24-23, 13-9 CACC) came right back and tied it up when senior first baseman
Brooke Martin (Oakland, Maine) hit a RBI single as well.
Caldwell then added three more runs in the 3rd inning on an error and a RBI single. Senior shortstop
Ashleigh Tavaska (Jackson, N.J.) and Vondracek both scored on an error by the GCU shortstop. Matkosky hit a RBI single.
GCU rallied to score six straight runs in the 4th inning to go up 7-4. The Cougars than got back two of its runs in their half of the 4th. Vondracek scored on a throwing error by the catcher. Oller smacked an RBI double to center field.
Both teams traded runs in the 5th inning. The Lions went ahead 9-7 in the 7th on a sac fly. The Tavaska sisters helped Caldwell claw its way back to tie the score at 9 in the bottom half of the 7th. Freshman third baseman Emily (Jackson, N.J.) scored on a passed ball and
Ashleigh Tavaska hit a RBI double.
GCU took the lead for good when they scored three runs in the first extra inning (8th) to go up 12-9. They hit a single and a double.
